Matchmaker
by 4everawriter
Summary: It wasn't Nelson's fault. Austin should have known better than to put the fate of his love life into the hands of a ten year old boy. One shot.


**Matchmaker**

* * *

Austin couldn't have made it more obvious.

Whenever someone would call him out on it, the rock star would stammer up an excuse full of _um's_, _whaaat's_, and _pfft's_. And every single time, he would top it off with a "I don't like her!" which then leads everyone to the conclusion that he definitely does like her.

Anyone- all of Miami- could see the crush Austin harbored on his songwriter. The blushes. The love struck stares. The constant and not all subtle flirting. What made the whole situation even more hilarious was that Ally seemed to be completely oblivious to the attention he gave her.

No one could blame Austin's frustration. Even Nelson, whose ten year old mind still struggled with the concept of love, sympathized. There were too many times when he would catch Austin trying to ask the brunette on a date without using the actual word 'date'.

Too many times would Ally mistake the invitation as an act of friendship.

And too many times would Nelson have to see that heart ripping look on Austin's face.

After days watching the same process happen over and over again, the solution seemed too simple. Nelson thought it was obvious, but Austin never seemed to have the idea wrap around his head.

"Why don't you just tell Ally you love her?" Nelson blurted out after watching another failed attempt.

Austin spun around in surprise, almost tripping over his own feet. "Nelson? What are you doing here?" his face was bright red, as if he was embarrassed for someone to witness Ally's unknowing rejection.

"I had piano lessons." _Had_ being the key word, taking that Ally had hastily abandoned both him and Austin moments before.

"Had?"

Ignoring the obvious attempt to change the subject, Nelson repeated, "Why don't you just tell Ally you love her?"

"Nelson please don't-"

"Why?"

"It's not that easy to-"

"Why?" he pressed.

Austin let out a small grunt. Were all kids this annoying? Nelson peered up at him, stubbornly refusing to drop the topic. Austin fumbled. "I don't _love_ her," he protested. His tongue twisted as he choked half way through the sentence.

Thus, it wasn't very convincing.

Nelson's finger shot out accusingly, nearly poking Austin in the eye. "Liar!" he said. He puffed up his chest, pleased that he was able to come up with such an accurate observation.

All of Sonic Boom turned towards them. Austin wouldn't have been surprised if all of Miami heard. "Okay!" he gave in, raising his hands in surrender. "J-Just stop yelling." _And maybe people would stop staring at us. _

Nelson failed to notice the lack of sincerity in Austin's response. Satisfied, he nodded and turned to leave. Austin barely had time to take a long awaited breath when Nelson stopped mid-step. Spinning back towards the blond, he asked, "So you're going to tell her?" Austin bit back a curse. "Promise?"

Forcing a smile, Austin stared at the pinky that was jabbed in front of his face. Nelson's face looked so happy, so proud that he made a difference in the lives of his two idols. A pause.

"Promise," Austin said. He hoped he didn't look as guilty as he felt.

They locked pinkies. _Liar, _Nelson thought.

* * *

_Let's take this out to the streets_

_Everyone's following me_

_We'll throw our hands to the sky_

_We're celebrating our life_

_Come on let's give it a shot_

_This may be all that we've got_

_Right here, the moment is now_

_Let's show 'em what we're about_

Nelson watched as Austin flew across the stage. In the front row, Ally was jumping up and down, hair flying and eyes shining. Austin saw as she mouthed the words to her- their- new song. Catching his eye, Ally gave him a thumbs up, grinning ear to ear.

What happened next was so fast, Nelson almost missed it. Austin pointed to the brunette, giving her a quick, yet undeniable wink. _Let's show 'em what we're about_.

* * *

Austin tried not to laugh. He really, really, _really _tried. Still…

Nelson looked almost offended when a handful of snickers escaped out of his mouth. "Uh…" Austin tried to pass of his laughter as coughs, which only made him _start _going into a genuine coughing fit. "Sorry."

The coughing continued for another few minutes before Austin could finally talk without cutting himself off every other word. "Wait," he tried to clear his head, which was reasonably clouded. "So you really want to be…"

Nelson nodded.

"But…uh I mean- I don't-" Austin fumbled, at a loss for words when he realized that the young boy was actually being serious.

Nelson looked up at him hopefully. "Dez said that I'll be the perfect person to help you and Ally get together so you could…" he struggled, trying to voice what the redhead had told him earlier, a term that he never fully understood "...make babies?"

He sounded so confused, it was obvious his parents haven't given him the talk yet. Nelson said it so innocently, as if he really expected that babies were made in a little Infant Factory and dropped at people's door steps by those stupid birds.

Austin's face heated up like an oven. A horrible mixture of air and saliva came out of his mouth as he sputtered and choked, which only made his face turn even redder. "Dez," he hissed under his breath.

Nelson seemed unaware of Austin's embarrassment. "But even if you say no," he said, "I decided that I'm still going to help you."

"Oh really?" was the distant and still distracted response

"Yeah," he gave a full-tooth smile. "Everyone thinks that you and Ally are perfect together and so do I!" Austin winced as Nelson's voice rose about twenty notches higher.

"Nelson," Austin chose his words carefully. "You really don't have to-" just the thought of having a ten year old help him with his love life already dampened his pride to the point where it was nonexistent.

"But I want to," he insisted. God this boy was even more stubborn than Trish. "You want to be with Ally, right?"

And Austin couldn't say no.

* * *

"Guess who."

Ally smiled as her vision went dark. "Austin," she said, gently shoving his hands off of her eyes. "I'm workin-" The said blond hopped onto the counter, nearly crushing the cash register in the process.

A goofy smile appeared on his face, ignoring the glares the current customer was sending him. "Wow. You're really good at this game."

A small giggle escaped out of Ally's mouth before she could stop herself. "Stop it," she scolded. "I should be mad at you. You're going to get me fired."

"Your dad won't fire you," Austin said. "You're a free employee."

"Don't remind me," Ally stuck out her tongue, finally turning her attention back to the impatient woman who was still waiting in the checkout line. After apologizing to her and the other five people behind her, Austin waited for Ally to finish up.

But he wasn't complaining.

Austin found himself staring at her, observing every inch of her. He watched the way she tucked her hair, which stubbornly refused to stay in place, behind her ear. He watched how she would bite the corner of her lip whenever she would be deep in thought. Every movement she made, it almost intrigued him. He even cared how she opened the stupid cash register.

He didn't care if it categorized him as a stalker. He couldn't help it.

Austin would like to consider himself an expert when it comes to asking girls out, yet every time he would go to ask Ally out on one date, he would get completely tongue tied.

The flirting, the winks, the decreasing amount of space between them. Austin was afraid he was going to have to write it across his forehead for Ally to finally realize the message he's been trying to send for the past four months.

"Austin?" Ally's voice finally snapped him back to reality.

"Huh?"

Ally laughed. Something glinted in her eyes. Affection? Appreciation? Love? Friendship? Austin's mind soared through the possibilities way to fast. "My shift is over. Want to grab something to eat?"

"Sure," Austin smiled, shoving the fact that they were doing this _as friends _out of his mind. "But I'm paying for it."

Whatever Ally was going to say, and she surely was going to make the same offer, drowned out of her mouth. "What? No!" she said, waving her wallet at Austin's face. "You have to stop buying lunch for me. I'm making you go broke."

"Ally, I promise it's nothing. You always order, like, a three dollar salad."

"Four," Ally corrected before rambling on about the health benefits of eating a small Caesar salad in comparison to him, who usually orders a majority of the restaurant's menu. "I'm afraid you're going to choke if you eat so fast..."

As Ally continued to stress her concern about not knowing if she could perform the Heimlich maneuver correctly in a real-life situation, Austin caught himself staring at her. Again.

He really had to stop. Someday Ally would notice and-

As if on queue, Ally's head spun towards him so fast, Austin almost lost his balance. The brunette's eyes widened slightly. Before Austin could even consider whether or not to come up with an excuse, Ally forced the blush off her cheeks and continued on with their conversation.

Austin tried not to scream.

* * *

It didn't take very long for Nelson to come up with a plan. Asking Trish and Dez for advice, though, may have been a mistake. Especially since the two had entirely different views on it.

"This is perfect!" Trish had burst out laughing. What was so funny about it, Nelson didn't know. But then he didn't question it. She called his plan _ t_, which was enough for him to smile and proudly pat himself on the back.

The joy was short lived. "I don't know," Dez said skeptically.

"What?"

"It seems kind of cruel." _ l_

Nelson frowned. Trish mirrored his expression. "Don't listen to him," the Latina said, not so gently pushing the redhead aside. "There's nothing wrong with it. You're only doing what Austin and everyone in Miami has been afraid to do."

_I am? _

Dez opened his mouth to object but one glare from his raven haired friend and he slammed it shut. Five seconds later and out of Trish's silent threat, he said, "Austin's going to kill you if it goes wrong."

Trish scoffed, as if the thought of it failing wasn't even a possibility. "But he's going to love you if it works," she insisted.

_L o v e_

* * *

Nelson's plan was fairly simple. It consisted of three words, which for some reason he found incredibly hard to get out. Dez was right. Austin _was _going to kill him. It all seemed so much simpler in his head. Ally was right there, just a few yards away.

All he had to do was…

_This is for Austin, _Nelson reminded himself. Before he could hesitate any further, he pushed himself into Sonic Boom, marched right up to the cash register, slammed his hands on the counter and blurted out, "Austin likes you." Maybe he shouldn't have been so straight forward.

Ally jumped back in surprise, squeaking as she stumbled backwards. "What?" it took her a moment to realize that it was Nelson. After that shock passed, it took another shocking, jaw-dropping second to realize what he said.

This was the exact reaction that was going to get him killed.

The boy squeezed his eyes shut, shaking his head rapidly. "Don't make me say it again," he groaned.

Ally gawked at him, her ears buzzing. "Austin- he-"

Nelson found it hard to believe that she was so surprised. "I-I mean," he stammered out when Ally stood there, unmoving, staring at him with wide eyes. "He just really-um…can we pretend that this never happened?"

Ignoring his comment, Ally finally seemed physically able to move. "You promise you're not playing a joke on me?"

"Cross my heart."

"You actually mean that."

"Yeah."

"And Austin actually told you that he…"

"Yeah."

Nelson almost laughed- mostly out of relief- as a huge, almost comical, smile broke out on Ally's face. "Austin's upstairs," she said out of the blue, as if it just dawned to her.

She gestured dizzily to the practice room. "I…should go talk to him," she stammered, almost unsure of herself.

"You should," Nelson agreed.

Ally tried to wipe the smile off her face. She really, really did.

* * *

Five minutes passed.

Ten.

Fifteen.

It was the seventeen minute mark when Nelson started to get impatient. Maybe he should have left Sonic Boom right there but curiosity won out by a longshot. Twenty minutes.

He really shouldn't have made his way upstairs. But he did.

And he really shouldn't have burst into the practice room. But he did.

It took Nelson a moment to process what he was seeing. Austin. Ally.

Kissing.

The sight was so bizarre, so shocking, Nelson found himself staring at them for a quick second. Then reality kicked him in the head and he did what any ten year old boy would do.

Covering his eyes, Nelson instinctively let out a- loud- gag.

The noise was enough to have both Austin and Ally fly away from each other, blushing furiously. "Nelson," Austin didn't even try to hide his annoyance once he realized who interrupted them. "What are you doing here?"

Across the room from the blond, Ally was struggling to straighten out her clothes. "Nelson," she stammered, her hands shaking with embarrassment. "I thought you went home."

Nelson shook his head.

Austin ran his hands through his hair, attempting and failing to fix it. Ally caught his gaze and smiled sheepishly. "Nelson," she said, obviously distracted. "I'll see you tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay," was the confused response.

It was only when the boy left when the couple was able to relax. Closing and locking the door, Ally laughed, her face still reasonably red. "I'm sorry. I thought the store was empty."

Austin returned the smile. "It's fine." He smirked. "Even though a ten year old did just walk in on us-"

Ally's cheeks flared into color once again. Austin decided that he liked being the one responsible for making her blush. "Just be happy it wasn't my dad," she managed to say.

"He wouldn't mind," Austin said, the smile dropping off his face. "I think he kind of knew…all of Miami pretty much knows, I guess, how I feel about you. I was going to tell you but I-I never could and it just…Nelson kind of beat me to it."

Ally threw her head back and laughed. "You owe him."

* * *

Nelson couldn't help but beam as he pressed his face against the door, his ears able to pick up their soft conversation. _Austin owes him. _The thought of having the internet sensation at his feet was all the satisfaction he needed.

Smiling, Nelson continued to eavesdrop. But no matter how hard he could try to strain his ears, he couldn't hear a word they were saying…though Nelson doubted that they were talking at all.

All his focus devoted to the task, he failed to realize the footsteps that were coming up towards him. "Nelson?" someone tapped him on the shoulder.

The boy spun around, so surprised he almost crashed against the door, nearly blowing his cover.

"What-" the man silenced himself as Nelson shushed him. Then in a lower voice, "What are you doing?"

Nelson laughed nervously. "Hi Mr. Dawson."

* * *

**A/N: Yay new one shot :) I was working on my other stories when this idea just popped into my head and I did promise on tumblr (follow me on allymoons :) that I would write a one-shot so...I hoped you guys like it. Please review :) **


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